Harness stop motion for looms



April 28, 1931- G. w. WHITEHEAD HARNESS STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed May 3, 1950 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3mm 61M wkiiehedd" Sumac:

April 1931- I .G. w. IWHITEHEADI 1,802,855

HARNESS STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS 'Filed May 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 Figure 2;

Patented Apr. 28, 1931 UNITED Paras FFECE HARNESS STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Application filed May 3,

Ths invention relates to protectors and particularly to harness protectors, the general object being to providea structure of this kind designed to knock off the loom when harness straps, harness strings or bridle wires are broken or if in any case the harness falls.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which will stop the loom immediately and prevent taking-back which causes a total loss of filling for silk or cotton looms, and also preventing defects in the goods caused by this taln'ng-back.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which prevents the harness from lowering and causing the shuttle to split the shed.

A further object is to provide a harness protector which permits a single loom fixer to hang the loom harness alone or without 29 the assistance of one additional operator and which permits a loom fixer to take care of more looms by preventing many smashes and pick-outs.

A further object is to provide a mechanism of this character which will either operate electrically or mechanically to cause the stoppage of the loom.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a harness stop motion constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of one of the harness supports;

Figure 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4C is a section on the line 1-4 of 'Figure5 is an end elevation of a harness support showing a modification thereof.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a stand having a base adapted to rest upon the floor and be attached thereto as by screws. This stand is formed with a vertical slot 11 adjacent the upper end of the stand. Adapted to be disposed upon the stand is a box or casing 12 rectangular in cross section and formed with a vertical rib 13 which is dis- 1930. Serial No. 449,482.

posed within the slot 11. This is held in any adjusted position within the slotsv by the screws 14. Disposed in the open upper end of this casing 12 is the shank 15 of a T-shaped harness supporting member 16.

The lower end of this shank is reduced to form a downwardly extending stem 17 and surrounding this stem is a coiled compression spring 18 which bears at its upper end against the lower end of the shank 15 and urges the shank upward. A cotter pin 19 passing through the lower end of the stem 17 holds this stem from too great upward movement under the action of the spring. The upper end of the shank 15, as before stated, carries the transversely extending T-shaped support 16 which is slightly curved upward at its ends as shown in Figure 2 and extending laterally from this support is the lug 2O tapered toward its lower edge. Mounted upon the outer face of the casing 12 is a bracket 21. This bracket is formed with a slot 22 and passing through this slot and into the casing 12 is a screw 23 which, when tightened up, will hold the bracket in any 1 vertically adjusted position. The bracket ex tends laterally and upward with reference 1 to the shank 15. There are two of the supports 10 with the T-shaped heads 16 and thebrackets 21. These supports are disposed I about three inches from each end of the harness frame and below the harnessframe.

Disposed with its ends extending through apertures in the upper extremities of the brackets 21 is a cranked rod 24. Mounted upon this rod immediately abovethe upper end of each casing 12 is an arm constituting a catch-lever 25. This is held upon the shaft 24 by means of said screw 25 or like means. Mounted upon the outer extremities of the shaft 24 and held in place by said screws or like means are the inwardly projecting arms 26, each arm being formed with a series of apertures 27. These arms 26 are disposed closely adjacent the end frame A of the loom. Disposed above the arm 26 and pivotally mounted upon the end frame of the loom is the rocker arm 28 which has pivoted to its upper end the knock-off latch 29, the extremity of which is reduced in thickness or tapered as at 30. A connecting rod 31 has its lower end hooked or bent to engage in any one of the apertures 27 the upper end of the rod being pivotally engaged in any suitable manner with the knock-off latch 29. Pref erably, a turn-buckle 32 is disposed intermediate the ends of the rod 31. It will thus be seen that the knock-off latch is supported upon the arm 28 for vertical swinging movement with the arm 26 or lever and that when this lever is depressed the latch 29 will be depressed and that when the lever is raised. the latch 29 will be raised.

Pivoted to the lower end of the lever 28 is a longitudinally shiftable rod 33 which passes through an eye formed in a'knoclrol' lever 34:. This knock-off lever is also formed with an eye through which the shaft 35 of the loom passes. Adjustably mounted upon the rod 33 is a collar 36 held in adjusted position by a set screw and which may be at.- justed into or greater or less proximity to the knock-off lever 34. Mounted upon the end of the lay-sword is a knock-off dog 37 cleft at its end as at 38 and adapted, if the knock-off latch 29 be raised to engage this knock-oif latch and push it rearward as the lay-sword moves rearward. If, however, this latch 28 be lowered, the knock-off dog 3? will have no effect upon the latch 29 The operation of this mechanism is as follows :It will be seen that the latch-lever 25 rests at its inner end against the lower edge of the lug 20, this inner end of'the latchlever being recessed to engage on this lug. Thus the inner end of the latch lever cannot be lifted, and thus the outer end ofthe latch lever cannot be depressed beyond a certain point depending upon the relative adjustment of the T-shaped member 16 and of the bracket 21. The two T-shaped members 16 are disposed beneath the frame B of the harness with the standards resting upon the floor. The crank portion of the shaft 2% tends to turn the shaft in a direction to cause the levers 25 to bear against thelugs 20 on the head 16 and hold the arms 26 downward as far as possible permitted by the position of the lugs 20. Now if any of theharness frames or portion of the harness should drop, this would depress the heads 16 and the lugs 20, hearing against the levers 25 would cause a rotation of the shaft 24 in a direction to raise the arm 26 and lift upward on the knock-off latch 29. lifting the knock-off latch to a position where it would be engaged by the knockoff dog 3'? upon a stroke of the lay sword.

This would oscillate the lever 28 and throw the rod 33 forward which would bring the stop 36 in contact with the lever 34, thus rotatingthe shaft 35 and knocking off the loom. The adjustment of thedevices of this loom should be such as to cause the loom to stop immediately upon the dropping of the harness by the collar 36 coming in contact with the knock-off lever, thus knocking off the loom.

In Figure 5, I show another modification of the structure shown in Figure 1 in which the shank 1.5 has attached to it a switch point 39 coacting with two normally spaced contacts 40 mounted upon the side of the casing 12. When the member 16 is depressed by the falling of the harness frame, this contact 39 will be brought between the two contacts 40 and will bridge the gap between these two contacts, thus causing the circuit through any electrically operated warp stop motion such as is commonly found on looms and which, therefore, needs no further description.

It will be seen that a device of this character will stop the loom immediately, without any damage being done to thewarp ends-or to the goods upon a breaking of the harness straps, harness strings, the pulling out of the harness hooks, the breaking of bridle wires or anything ofthiskind, orin any case where the harness frame has a hole or any one of the harness frames is lowered beyond its proper position. By stopping the loom immediately, waste of filling is prevented and defects caused by taking back is prevented. The loom harness cannot become too low and thus cause'the shuttleto split the harness. The protector will prevent smashes and pick-outs and tends to increase the percentage of production. It further permits a smash piecer to take care of more looms than is possible where this device is not used.

The shaft 2 1 is cranked for two reasons, one so that the weight of the cranked'portion of the shaft will constantly tend to urge upward on the arms 25 and the other is tliat this shaft 24 may extend around the springs that pull downward; on the harness. If the shaft is straight, it would necessarily pass through the harness and cause friction and stop the loom.

The shaft 35, in those looms which are equipped with a brake shaft, may be considered to be this brake shaft, but when my device is applied to looms which are not equipped with the shaft, then this shaft 35 is the shipper lever shaft. Where a: brake shaft is used, any actuation-of the brake shaft by my brake mechanism not only sets the brake, but it automatically takes the shipper handle with it and the-loom stops immediately, but in some looms such as the Mason loom, Kilburn 8: Lincoln loom, and the VVhiten loom, there are no loom brakes, and in such cases, the knock-off lever 34 would have to be applied to the-starting'lever itself, or to the starting lever shaft as the shipper shaft is often called. t will, of course, be understood, that theknock-off member 37' engages with the extremity 30 of the arm 29 upon a rearward movement of the lay-sword, if this member 29 is raised by the dropping of any portion of the harness.

Obviously many slight changes in construction might be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim 1. A harness stop motion for looms including a stand adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, a casing vertically adjustable on the stand, a member having a shank mounted in the casing for bodily vertical movement and upon which member the harness frames are adapted to drop, a spring in the casing yieldably supporting said member and knock-01f means actuated by the de pression of said member under the weight of said frame.

2. A harness stop motion for looms including a stand, a T-shaped member having a shank disposed in the stand for bodily vertical movement, the T-shaped member being adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, a spring on the stand yieldabiy sup porting said member, means for adjusting said member vertically with relation to the stand, and knock-off means actuated by a depression of said T-shaped member under the weight of a frame.

3. A harness stop motion for looms including a stand adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, a casing vertically adjustable on the stand, a T-shaped member having a shank disposed in said casing, a spring in the casing yieldingly supporting said T- shaped member, the T-shaped member being adapted to receive harness frames which have dropped from normal position, and knock-off means actuated by a depression of said T-shaped member under the weight of a frame.

4. A loom stop motion including two stands, a depressible member associated with each stand, means yieldingly supporting the depressible member of each stand, a bracket carried on each stand, a shaft carried in said brackets, levers mounted one on each end of the shaft and extending beneath the depressible member and adapted to be oscillated when the depressible member moves downward to thereby oscillate the shaft, an arm extending from the shaft, a rocker arm mounted on the loom, a rod pivotally engaged with one end of the arm and operatively engaged with a knock-off shaft of the loom, a knock-off latch pivoted to the other end of the rocker arm, a connection between said latch and the arm mounted on the shaft causing the arm and latch to move in the same direction, and a knock-off member mounted upon the lay beam of the loom and adapted as the lay beam is retracted to strike against said latch'as the latch is raised by a raising of the arm. A

5. A harness stop motion for looms including a plurality of stands adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, an element yieldably carried on each stand and upon which the harness frames are adapted to drop, a bracket on each stand, a shaft mounted in said brackets, the shaft adjacent its opposite ends having inwardly extending levers with which the extremities of said vertically movable elements are adapted to engage to there by rock the shaft in one direction when either one of the elements is depressed, and knockoff means actuated by an oscillation of said shaft caused by a depression of either one of said elements. a v

6. A harness stop motion for looms including a plurality of stands adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, an element yieldably carried on each stand and upon which the harness frames are adapted to drop, a bracket on each stand,'a shaft mounted in said brackets, the shaft adjacent its opposite ends having inwardly extending levers with which the extremities of said vertically movable elements are adapted to engage to thereby ro-ck the shaft in one direction when either one of the elements is depressed, an arm on the shaft, a knock-off latch positively connected to said arm to be raised or lowered thereby, the knock-off latch being operatively connected to loom knock-off mechanism to knock-off the loom when the latch is shifted longitudinally of the loom, and a member mounted upon the lay beam of the loom and adapted to engage said latch if the latch be lifted and shift the latch longitudinally to knock off the loom.

7. The combination with a loom having a harness, a knock-off shaft and a lay sword, of means for knocking off the loom if the harness frames are unduly lowered in a normal position comprising a pair of, stands, T-shaped elements adapted to be disposed beneath the harness frames of the loom and having shanks operatively engaged with said stands for vertical movement,springs urging the T-shaped elements upward,brackets mounted upon the stands, a cranked shaft oscillatably mounted in said brackets, the shaft at its ends having arms extending beneath the T-shaped elements and engaged thereby whereby when said elements are depressed the shaft will be rocked in one direction, an arm mounted upon the shaft adjacent the end frame of the loom, a rocker arm pivotally mounted upon the end frame of the loom above said first named arm, a knock-off latch pivoted to the upper end of said rocker arm. a connecting rod between the latch and said first named arm, a'rod pivotally connected to the lower end of the rocker arm and carrying a stop, a knock-off lever mounted upon the knock-off shaft of the loom and having an eye through which therodpasses and adapted to be engaged by said stopiwhen thejrod is shifted in one direction, and a knock-off member mounted upon the lay beam and adapted to engage with the extremity of the knockoff. latchif the latch be raised-by adepression of the T-shaped elements tothus cause an oscillation of the rocker arm and the actuation of said knock-off lever-by the stop;

8. A harness stop motion for looms including a stand adapted to be disposed below the harness frame, a casing'vert-ically adjustable upon the stand, a depressiblemember having a shank disposed in said casing, a spring in the casing yieldingly'supporting said depressible member, the depressible member being adapted to receive harness frames which have dropped from normal position, spaced electrical contacts disposed upon the casing and adapted to be connected to electrically actuated knock-01f means, andfa contact mounted upon the depressible member and adapted to electrically engage said first named contacts when the depressible member is depressed under the weight of a frame.-

9; A; harness stop motion for looms including a stand adapted to be disposed below the harness frames, a casing vertically adjustable uponthestand, a depressible member having a shank mounted in the casing for vertical movement and upon which member the harness frames are adapted to drop, a spring in the casing'yieldably supporting said member, and knock-off means actuated by a depression of saidine-mber under the Weight of said frame including an arm, a bracket mounted upon the casing for vertical adjustment, and pivotally supporting said arm, the depressible member having a partthereof adapted to engage said arm when the member is depressed to therefore rock said arm.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

GEORGE WVILLIAM HITEHEAD. 

